3. The WIRMI Trick

Don’t over-analyze, just write what comes to mind. Say what you’re thinking.

The WIRMI trick is great for simplifying what you’re trying to say and making it focused. Just be careful not to overuse it.

If Sebastian Junger had used it throughout writing The Perfect Storm, his book could have gone from 227 pages to this:

The sea was angry that day, my friends — like an old man trying to send back soup in a deli.” [tweet this]

4. Be Like Christopher Nolan – Don’t Start at the Beginning

In his movie “Memento,” writer-director Christopher Nolan told his story backwards. The ending of the story was the beginning of the movie. The beginning of the story was the end of the movie.

Now, unless you want to frustrate your audience, I don’t recommend you implement this strategy exactly. However, a modification of this strategy could work great for writer’s block.

Many bloggers and writers start by writing the beginning of their idea. Then they move on to the middle. Then they write the ending.

In other words, they often write it the same way readers will read it — from start to finish.

If you have a general idea for what you want to write about, but you’re having trouble putting your idea into words, try starting in the middle. Come back to the intro later.

Or, try writing the closing first. It may sound silly to write the “wrap up” for a post you haven’t even written yet, but it could force you to focus your ideas.

5. Brainstorming

With a pen and paper (or your keyboard and a text editor), write everything you can think of for the topic you’re looking to write about.

Do this for 5, 10, 15 minutes. You should write as much as you can.

Once you’re done, review your “work” and see what shows promise and what should go in the trash.

I do this whenever I’m assigned to write an article for Country Outfitter. If I’m to write about “baseball,” for example, I’ll sit down with my wife and brainstorm different article ideas.

When we settle on an idea, such as “reasons you should go to a game this weekend,” we’ll then brainstorm a list of reasons.

That list will get edited and refined, ready for me to begin writing it.

But first, I’ll take a nap. Brainstorming is hard work.

6. Freewriting

I’m not crazy. I’m freewriting.

What’s the difference between brainstorming and freewriting?

Simplest answer is brainstorming is what you do when you already have an idea, freewriting is what you do when you don’t even have an idea.

To freewrite, just write whatever comes to your mind. Punctuation isn’t really necessary. You just need to put words to paper.

True, the end result will likely look like the rantings of a lunatic.

Nonetheless, freewriting can tap into the creativity trapped inside your head. You could even find an idea or two you could write about among the random rantings.

And worst case, you’ll have some evidence should you ever need to prove your insanity during a trial.

7. Dance, Dance, Dance

Well, you don’t have to dance.

You could play a game of bowling on the Nintendo Wii.

You could go for a walk.

You could watch that “Hello Kitty” music video by Avril Lavigne.

The idea is to do something active that gets your blood pumping. Or, in the case of Avril Lavigne, something that scares you so your blood starts pumping.

8. Let Boredom Drive You

A few years ago, Copyblogger wrote about a copywriter named Eugene Schwartz and his system for writing.

What Schwartz would do was quite simple.

He would get a cup of coffee, sit down at his desk, and set a small kitchen timer to 33 minutes and 33 seconds.

During those 33 minutes and 33 seconds Schwartz could drink coffee, he could sit and do nothing, or he could write.

He couldn’t get out of his chair or do anything else.

Once the time was up, he would do whatever he wanted for 10-15 minutes, and then he would start the process all over again.

Basically, Schwartz let boredom motivate him to write. Sitting in a chair doing nothing is quite boring, so after a few minutes Schwartz would start writing.

He wrote to escape boredom.

How could you and I implement Schwartz’s technique? Well, we would need to sign out of our email. Sign out of our social media accounts. Turn off the TV, turn off any music. We would need to silence our phones.

We would need to leave ourselves with only two options: sit and do nothing for an extended period of time, or write.

If we didn’t cheat and committed ourselves to this strategy, it could be quite effective.

9. Be Like Grisham – Set a Schedule

In 1984, John Grisham began arriving to work at 5:30 in the morning even though his work day didn’t begin until 9:00.

Inspired by The Onion, I once wrote an op-ed about camping. Except it wasn’t “me” writing it. It was a bear writing it. A bear pretending to be a human.

The bear’s pseudonym? Bob Human. His goal? To trick campers so he could eat them.

Yes, it’s as silly as it sounds:

Hello, my fellow human beings! I don’t know about the rest of you, but I love to go camping in the woods. Is there anything as wonderful as driving out to some remote campsite for the weekend and ignoring those stupid “Caution: Bears in Area” signs?

The only thing I can think of that could possibly make the experience MORE enjoyable is smothering yourself in honey right before going to sleep at night!

Reader Interactions

Comments

I’m a planner and scheduler myself. So I set aside times just for writing. #11 also works for me – working on multiple projects at a time. I usually have 2 or 3 draft posts on the go. And work on the post that inspires me most that day.

My issue isn’t always necessarily writers block but more having to do with just not in the mood to write about what I sat down to write about. I don’t really view that as the same thing.

Like I’ve mentioned to people before, I don’t have an issue finding something to write about. I’ve got ideas running out the wazoo… It’s when I know what I plan to write about and then I sit down and I’m SO not in the mood to tackle that one. Maybe I’m sick of hearing about the topic myself or I don’t really have a better way to put a different spin on it. It could be a number of things so that’s when I go back to the drawing board and find something else that interests me more at that moment.

I like your third suggestion though. Just write out “what I really mean is” and then maybe something will start to flow that I am happy with. I found that one to be interesting because the only other thing that works for me is that good old faithful walk. Yep, it usually works pretty good. All the other suggestions never really have done it for me.

Great post and great examples. This one should go down in history as being one of the best ones on this subject. Thanks for your time, awesome stuff.

I’m similar to you in that I don’t really get writer’s block. I get ideas overload. That’s why I use #11 all the time. To function properly, I’m constantly bouncing from one project to another! Glad at least a couple of these suggestions work for you. Haha.

“This should go down in history as being one of the best ones on this subject” is a quote I’m tempted to tattoo on my arm. Thank you for the compliment!

These are some excellent tips man. I use mostly the multi tasking approach. If it on the same topic, I can generally get the creative juices flowing. I at least try and get bullet points in a Draft so I can have so points done for when I come back to the post.

I also use #7 as well. When I really feel like writing but it is just not happening, I just have to step away for a while. If I try to force it, It sometimes only makes things worse and I end up Trashing the draft because it just not what I want it to be.

This comment of yours somehow slipped through the cracks. I didn’t notice it!

Yeah, the multi-tasking approach is definitely the one I use most often. It just helps me being able to bounce around from project to project. By the time I come back around to the project where I was blocked, I usually have a different take on it!

Thanks for stopping by and leaving me TWO comments! It’s always fun getting new readers.

Haha. I appreciate that. I called it the “almost” ultimate guide just in case someone came back with “yeah, but what about…” or a similar criticism. By naming the post what I named it, I can simply respond with: “Well, I did say it was the almost definitive guide, didn’t I?” 🙂

Glad you enjoyed the post. Hopefully you can reference it should you ever come down with writer’s block. (But hopefully that won’t ever happen!)

I plan themes by month and usually know what I want to write about but get caught in the human story angle and then hit a blank wall. Thank God for the family pet, who doubles up as a Muse and a post or two have seen the light of day based on her antics and wisdom. I don’t know but maybe “Get a cute dog” or furry pet is cathartic for the writer’s block which seems to strike unexpectedly?

Great post!!!! Recently I was experiencing writers block and I tried two strategies (which both worked!) First, I had my VA look through some of my old blog posts and identify the ones that looked like they could be “beefed up” a bit and expanded on. This way – I already had an idea – I just needed to flesh it out. Secondly, I asked the questions “what is your greatest time management challenge” in my newsletter. I received a number of responses – which has given me many topics to write about!

Thanks! Going through your old posts (either for inspiration, an ego boost, or finding some ideas that could be expanded upon) is a great trick. And asking your subscribers a question is a clever one! Assuming your email list is good at communicating, you can get all sorts of ideas this way.

It’s amazing how sometimes writing comes so easily and other times it seems to take forever. Sometimes I can write a post out in 30minutes and other times I can literally spend all day and it just wont seem to come together.

I like #6, and that especially works for days when things arn’t clear in my head. I like to just get everything down on the page and then tidy it up and make sense of it afterwards.

As I run two blogs, I often find myself switching from one to another, so I feel like I am still being productive. I usually find that this break is enough to get my head into gear!

You’re right, it’s funny how some days the words flow freely and other days they don’t seem to come at all. Anyone who says writing isn’t a difficult job has never sat at a keyboard for a hour unable to think of anything to write!

I admire your running two blogs at once. You’ve doubled your chances of coming down with writer’s block! Haha.

Hi Duncan
It is so cool to discuss on the problem of writer’s block but once we face it we don’t have anything to talk. Our only and biggest worry is to create value and we desperately try everything we can to overcome this problem.
DO WHATEVER YOU WANT TO DO is I think the most effective solution to overcome your productivity blockade. Staying away from boring schedule is also another awesome way but while doing any of the tips we don’t have confidence we will make it. So we remain uncertain how long we will be facing it.
All the tips you mentioned are really great and after this lengthy list one hardly has any more solution to offer. 🙂
Thanks for sharing this very useful resource. Have a great weekend.

I agree… The most effective writer’s block for one person may not work for another person, and vice versa. You need to discover what works for you (and not be afraid to mix it up if it ever stops working)!

Kevin,
That is quite a list of suggestions! I’ve tried some of them to help with my own writers block. Usually what works best for me is just getting up from my desk, getting some fresh air and some water. After just a short break a usually have a much easier time getting focused.

Welcome back. Yeah, more times than not simply getting up from my computer for a bit works for me, too. Usually I’ll go get a cup of coffee, stretch my legs, and then try it again. That works a lot of the time.

Yes, I thought #8 was pretty interesting, too. When I came across it I made a note of it, but I haven’t tried it yet. Partly because I don’t have an egg timer. 🙂

Next time I come down with a case of really bad writer’s block, I may give #8 a try. It’s so out there it just might work.

I’ll have to give #8 a try. Distractions in my home office are too often the culprit keeping me from writing. Found the tidbit about John Grisham interesting. I usually write early in the mornings as well and have found if I go to bed thinking about what I’m going to write about in the morning, I’m very focused on it when I wake up.

#8 was easiest the most uncommon trick on the list, in my opinion. And it’s the only one I’ve yet to personally try! Glad you found the Grisham bit interesting. Sounds like you’re a morning person! Not me, unfortunately. I’m a night owl when it comes to writing. 🙂

Those were some really great ideas for fighting against Writers Block.Reading a lot and especially from your fellow Bloggers help you a lot in breaking Writers Block. Because with an empty mind, there will be always an empty Paper on your Table.

So if you want to put something on the paper, you need to put something in your mind.Hence read as much as you can.

I would say for writing 1 page, you should read at least 10 pages before.

Great post Kevin,
I think #7 is a must! You’ve got to get away from time to time and get your mind busy with something else. This helps relax your thought pattern to help you get back into the writing mode.

For me, Reading is a great way to tackle writer’s block. I know you mentioned reading in #2, but I’m referring to reading a book or books. In other words, “be a reader.”

As somebody once said, “readers are writers” I’m a reader so I have tons of ideas to write about and often not on my niche, but I often find myself getting ideas related to my blog from books and articles – even other blogs (imagine that).

Anyway, that’s my addition to defeating a writer’s block. Your list is very good and good to be aware of.

That is a great list but there are some more ways that I’ve thought of that can help from a guide I developed over at Jackowrites.com

First off is to create placeholders. If you are too caught up in the whole sometimes it is just better to place something for later. I have used this strategy a lot in my assignments for university and found it helped out a lot. Basically you can use brackets like or {} or [] and just put a simple sentence in between them of a descriptive way to point towards what you want to explore. This helps free you to move on to an area you can write more about.

Another method that Pat Flynn from SmartPassiveIncome.com uses is the post-it note trick. Rather than throw yourself into writing complex sentences, you can just start to lay down the structure one post-it at a time. You could use different colours to form different structural elements and organise your ideas into more logical flows. After you reach a point where you have everything mapped out, you can start laying down the actual words. Pat uses this method to write his best selling books but you can just as easily use it for blog posts and shorter eBooks. All you need is some sticky notes, a board or surface of some kind and a pen. If you are on the move, you can take a picture of your board so you know how it is all arranged.

Writers block is one of the things that bloggers usually find very difficult to beat,
However, all the tips you shared here can really help in overcoming it.

For me, i have a folder on my desktop which i named “Blog Posts” and i use this for is for dumping of ideas. Once I’m reading a blog posts, watching a video, reading the newspaper or even listening or watching the news, once i see something that can make a good blog posts on any topic, i will immediately write it down on a notepad and then save it inside the folder.

Now, whenever i find it difficult to come up with an idea for a blog post, i will quickly open this folder and by the time i finish surfing through everything there, i must see something i can write about immediately.

This is great stuff! It’s so good, in fact, that I decided to take your last piece of advice and run with it. I’ve decided to take some (read: most) of these points, and expand upon them on my own blog. I’ve been experimenting with Brian Dean’s skyscraper technique lately, so hopefully you appreciate that your article was the catalyst that got me started on a full series of posts on my blog.

Not only that, but I’m loving that you threw a Seinfeld reference in there! Any time I’m able to sneak one into my own posts, I feel like I accomplished something huge.